Kelly Clarkson calls herself “the worst” when it comes
to public speaking. She said as much this month when she accepted her third
Grammy Award, this one in the best pop vocal album category for 2011’s Stronger.

Her impromptu comments were refreshing and unassumingly real. Clarkson, our
own pop music superstar, is exactly like that on the phone. She’s a talker
without an agenda. She doesn’t mind telling me that she’s suffering from
allergies to dust mites. “It’s not pollen, so I’m going to deal with this no
matter where I go,” she said.

Before long, we’re chatting about the Grammys, her public feud with Clive
Davis and her headlining concert Friday night at Verizon Theatre, which is a
benefit for Omaha’s Opportunity Education Foundation.

That expressive voice of hers can sing anything. Clarkson says she ended up
at a Grammy after-party with label mate Adele, and they both laughed about being
“so awful at giving speeches.”

“If there’s no melody, I am royally screwed,” she said Wednesday. “I can’t
read the TelePrompTer. I am incapable of doing anything else but
off-the-cuff.”

Clarkson recently got into an Internet war of words after record producer and
music industry mogul Clive Davis made disparaging comments about Clarkson in his
new autobiography, The Soundtrack of My Life. The two worked together during
Davis’ tenure at RCA Records and had publicly butted heads before regarding
Clarkson’s 2007 album, My December.

She told me she’s done talking about Davis. “At some point, you have to just
stand up and say, ‘That’s not cool,’” she said. “He was such a musical hero of
mine. I won’t put up with that. Us artists just want it to be about what we
thought it was about, the creativity. When something like that happens, it gets
destroyed.”

She prefers to talk passionately about a cause close to her heart. Omaha’s
Opportunity Education Foundation is dedicated to providing access to education for children around the world.

“Education was a key part of my childhood, and I am better for it. Anything
for education I am really into and especially for kids. A lot of people don’t
have computers, and they can’t afford them. Without education, you get far
behind. As long as they have a chance, you know, I think that’s important. I
want every kid to have a chance.”

Clarkson’s mom is a retired teacher, and the singer tells me there are “a
bunch of teachers in my family.” So naturally her show Friday benefits the
organization. Clarkson will be performing all her greatest hits with her band,
“plus a few other things sprinkled in there,” she said. She won’t, however, be
doing any kind of public speaking or teaching any time soon.

“It’s really funny because I would never be a teacher. It’s a talent to be
able to have that kind of patience, especially in overcrowded areas where you
have up to 36 kids to a classroom. I’m like, ‘What?!’ But my mom had two jobs,
put herself through college and still found time to read to me.”